Dave's Aquaponics Bio
1985
Drove my campervan to Southern Spain
1987
Bought a 10 acre organic smallholding (Finca) in the remote mountains of Andalucía, 45-minute walk from the nearest neighbour or village. See Note 2
1993
Moved back to the England
1994
Introduced to hydroponic food cultivation and began building back yard systems
1995
Received a Hons. Degree in ‘Electrical & Electronic Engineering’ before entering the corporate world and continued to build hobby hydroponic systems. See Professional IT qualifications and work history on LinkedIn
2012
Started aquaponics research whilst continuing to develop custom hydroponic systems
2014
Completed Permaculture Design Consultancy Course (PDC) with Geoff Lawton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoff_Lawton
2013
Completed 5 day intensive Aquaponics course
2014
Bought a large polycarbonate greenhouse for the garden and custom built my first off-grid, 12 pod aquaponics system, using all my existing hydroponics experience
2015
Managed to acquire some polytunnel space in the local park and upscaled my Aquaponics system to incorporate 2 x 1000 Litre IBC tanks, with automated off-grid 12V systems including: Floating Raft, Vertical downpipes, Deep Water Culture (DWC) and Nutrient Film Technique (NFT)
2017
Moved the entire Aquaponics Setup, with fish, to St. Catherine's Plant Nursery in South Devon
2018
Started 'taoponics' Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/taoponics/
2019
Launched the horticultural side of ‘Three Treasures Living’ at St. Catherine’s Plant Nursery in South Devon, as part of a holistic and ethical lifestyle business.
Note 1:
My mother, Mari-Cruz Vazquez, is still living well at 92 - probably because she doesn't take any pharmaceutical drugs on a regular basis! - and because she is wonderful :)
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Note 2:
The small-holding had an old stone shack, with two habitable rooms, and a big open fire. There was no electricity and the natural water supply was 10 minutes walk down a steep slope!
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We wanted to focus on the growing side of our 'self-sufficiency' ideal, since we had a lots of fruit trees to manage, and a decent sized vegetable garden.
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The land was peppered with over a hundred olive and almond trees, and a smattering of apricot, sweet chestnut, cherry, pomegranate and apple trees.
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Eventually, we decided to get a couple of chickens, for an egg supply, and keep the animal husbandry to a minimum as we already had enough work.
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Within a year we had 2 donkeys (Perico and Suzi), 2 dogs (Max and Yogi), 6 chickens, 6 sheep, 1 ram (the boss), 1 goat (Clara) plus stray cats :)